man… i really hope you’re still rockin to this day!

Invisible Friend

Composer: JRL Guimarães
Contact information: jrlguimar@gmail.com

Green Balloon

I am flying away
In a green baloon
Looking the moon
Looking the sea

I feel so peace
I feel so love
I feel the way
We can see

The real things
To realize
That's more to see
Up and down

To live the life
To think high
Is what we do
Is what we know

Green Baloon

I wrote this song in 1997 on a Gibson J-200 while watching the sun go down at the end of the driveway sitting on the tailgate of my 1984 Orange Ford Ranger. I immediately headed down into the basement and in a little less than two hours this was it. 

The drums, recorded first were a jellybean (all different colors) hodgepodge of a kit with an EV 635a microphone right in the middle of it all between the kick and snare. The electric guitar is a 1954 Les Paul with P-90s through a Russian Big Muff and a tiny Silvertone tube amp with a 6” speaker turned to the max. I switched the fuzz on and off for the different parts as I was playing and you can hear the amp melting down at the end. I miked it with an SM-57 set on the floor in front of the amp. The vocal was sung up close on a cool looking, but terrible crystal mic from a 50’s era Webcor tube reel to reel. I kinda liked the way the totally telephonic, midrange sound of it fit the mood. I played a 60s Gibson nylon string guitar solo in the middle. The sole effects box was a Lexicon Vortex, that made the guitar sound cooler and then I switched it back and forth between two presets during the bridge to get the echo part on the vocal. I played everything, and everything is a first take.

Recorded on a Tascam 238 8-track cassette deck.

I wish I hadn’t lost some of the fearlessness of this version of myself along the way to now…


I wished upon a star
To take away my pain 
I wished so very hard 
To tumble down like rain 

I feel a challenge deep 
And rising in my throat 
I keep on hiding underneath 
My overcoat 

So bright so simple 
So pure and undisturbed 
The perfect truth never speaks 
But yet, is heard 

For those with eyes and skies 
Visions ever clear 
So close to almost truth 
But never drawing near 

My overcoat 
Safe and so secure 
My overcoat 
Tucked away inside 
My overcoat 

Where do stars go 
In the daytime?
Where do tears go 
When the phone rings? 
Still outside 
Still inside 
Behind the lining of my 
Overcoat

I’ve been praying for a solution 
To open up my heart 
What humble contribution 
Can I make for my part?

Beyond my disillusion 
Is a love and a reward 
To drop my guard
I must discard 
My overcoat

I leave it on the floor 
Turn away

Overcoat 1997 Demo

billy tiktok live.aac

Mike Green's entire first album "Listening For The Bell"

Cracks

Spy movie theme, using two Stylophone instruments and nothing else.

Bass and drums: Stylophone Beat
Horns and strings: Stylophone Gen X-1

Spylo Beat

Written the day after getting fired between sets at the Token Lounge in 1983. We were opening for a band with a militaristic vibe and I went off. I think the capper was “Hey, so coming in tonight we saw a sign in front of a church, saying this week’s service was going to be about nuclear weapons…….. I hear it’s going to be a CRITICAL MASS!” It was crickets in an anechoic chamber. An argument ensued backstage between myself and the club owner who was very unhappy with my “very unprofessional” antics and he seemed to be giving special weight to his opinions based on his “25 YEARS IN THE BUSINESS! I stepped back, took a long, slow deep breath, fully savoring the absolutely putrid stench of all those years of beers, cigarettes, sweat and who knows what else, drifting up from the matted, sticky shag carpet, and looked around and said “you’ve got 25 years in the business and you’re in this dump arguing with a 20 year old punk?! 

Needless to say we made a hasty exit. 😜

Not Afraid 1984

This song is all about the struggle that many musicians face, trying to chase a dream with long hours, endless practice, refining the craft and the rewards seem just out of reach.

50/90 2024

The Price I Pay

Ghost In This House

YOUNG AVENUE is the debut album from Nashville/Memphis native Alex Kramer. After a decade of touring as a backing musician for an array of artists indie and major, this project has Alex stepping into the Artist chair himself for the very first time.

Produced by Alex Kramer, Ryan Peel, and Scott Hardin

Recorded at Young Avenue Sound in Memphis, TN


Think Billy Joel & The Beatles meets John Mayer & Jason Mraz meets Prince and maybe a dash of Tom Waits.

The Riddle

Markus sits down with Mike Gentry at the Rooftop Recording Studio in Grand Blanc, MI. Gentry is a singer/songwriter and performs two songs, "One Water" dedicated to the people of Flint, MI and "It's Not a Race." Find more of Mike's music at mikegentrymusic.com and more from Rooftop Recording at rooftoprecording.net.

Fine Tuning - Ep #2: Mike Gentry

A semi-random collection of, for the time being, mostly tunes from days past. Scratch demos, songs from the vaults, etc... Click on the song titles if you'd like a more complete description of the time and place of each song. One of these days I'll get real and post some stuff that more accurately reflects where I'm at now. Until then... Thanks! I hope you find the way-back tour interesting.

Overcoat 1997 Demo

Mike Gentry

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